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Recommended Items
Runes:
Spells:
Flash
Barrier
Items
Ability Order
Living Vengeance (PASSIVE)
Varus Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Kalista
I think she is considered as a pretty easy matchup. You got a way bigger range than her so if you dont lose the lane really hard, she won't be a threat.
Lucian
Pretty easy. He has no range, so you can just bully him with auto attacks over and over again till the point he gets really low. Care of this strong trade-off if he can get in range.
Ezreal
Ezreal got a lot of poke damage in his laning phase and will bully you with that. Try to dodge as much Q's of him as you can. Your powerspikes are almost at the same time. You have more consistend damage in late game though.
Vayne
50/50 matchup I would call it. In early to mid game you got a big advantage over her. You should finish the game in mid game through an early baron. Vayne is a late game monster and will 3 shot you if you let her get there.
Caitlyn
High range. Will bully you in lane. You should play it kind of safe. Can get a thread to you in late game. I think she isn't that dangerous to Varus, because you have your powerspike in the mid game where she has her most weak point. You should use that.
Ashe
Not seen that much these days. Ashe has a little bit more range than Varus. She also got more late game damage since crit rules the late game. You can pressure her in lane though, because before 6 she can't really trade with you.
Jinx
Can be tough. Dont let her get ahead, because then she can rush over you. She got no dash or something like that, so it wont be that hard to land your skill shots on to her. She can poke with her long-range auto's in lane really good.
Kai'Sa
She's pretty strong right now. You should pressure her with some poke damage in laning phase. Care of her strong all in damage, she can kill you faster than you might think !
Draven
For me, Draven is always a hard matchup. High poke and early damage. Prevent him from getting stacks if you can. Hard to trade with him. You might just farm up. I seriously dont know how to beat him in lane with Varus.
Miss Fortune
High poke damage in lane. Stay away from low life minions, otherwise her Q poke will harrass you. Since she is building a lot of lethality most of the time, you beat her in things of doing damage as the game goes on and on.
Tristana
At low Lvls you got a good range advantage. You can bully her out of the lane. Care of all in's if she gets an aggressive support. In late game she deals more damage than you.
Xayah
Strong / Bully laning face. You have no dash to dodge her feathers which is pretty bad and she can dodge your ult with hers. Really hard machtup. You can make use of your good range here again.
Twitch
You got a bit more range and early poke damage towards him, which you can use to pressure the lane. Can be really dangerous since he can come out of nowhere and crit the hell out of you. You can't keep up with his late game scaling. Try to harrass him in lane as much as possible.
Jhin
After his buff he can keep up with your poke damage. You can just farm safely through lane. Care of his 4th shot. I dont't think you can tarde with him early.
Kindred
Not played too much, but you win anyway. Kindred needs to get close, and you can easily zone with your E. Be stingy with your ult, as Kindred's can nullify your combo. If you can bait the ult by getting Kindred low without ulting, it's almost a sure kill (assuming you don't miss and Kindred doesn't cleanse or QSS).
Graves
If he gets close, he can outtrade you. So keep your distance, watch for opportunities, poke, and CS.
Quinn
Her all in is dangerous. Don't bother trying to poke her if she has her Q on you, just get away from Quinn or her all in will kill you. Don't be too aggressive when trading.
Sivir
Can be dangerous IF the Sivir knows when to use her Spell Shield. If they do, they'll block poke from a safe distance in lane while responding with some of their own, and will save it to block something more meaningful like your ult or a support engage if she gets caught out. Try to proc your W stacks using Q and E when poking, as she can SS one of them. She's also more useful in fights overall, so make sure to make every Q count.
Lux
A good Lux can actually trade pretty decently with her passive and thunderlords, so it's somewhat risky to go get in close. Because you're slow, you can't dodge her aoe and you have to be really careful of her root. Don't walk straight towards her or chase her unless you're very prepared to flash the root or sidestep it. The general strategy is to poke her down (you'll win the poke war) and then go in for trades until you can combo her, but she can outplay you if you're not careful in trade range.
Brand
Buy boots early and dodge all his skillshots. Poke him down to 2/3rd's while you have full health, move in and burst him with your ult combo.
Cho'Gath
farm from range with your q. cho will not be a threat because he cannot get to you to kill you. focus on waveclearing fast.
Twisted Fate
easy mutchup. u have cleanse if in any case you get stunned from him in a gank
Ahri
A good Ahri can be really tough. You're too slow to dodge a lot of her skills, she's too fast to get hit by many arrows, and if she ults in, you're pretty much a sitting duck that's easy to charm. One of the worst things about her though is she's hard to combo because if you start your combo with your ult, she can just charm you and not only waste the root from your ult while you're charmed but probably kill you while you're at it. For this reason, it's important to ult her through a minion wave so her charm is blocked or, less ideal, be ready to sidestep the charm after you ult her. Buy early boots and hit her as hard as possible level 1 to try to get an advantage and make her play defensively. You might want to take a full MR blue page with no CDR blues. Also, she has very good roaming potential so you have to be on point to warn other lanes like crazy when she leaves.
Diana
in this matchup start with long sword and poke her down. untill level 6 she is zero threat to you.
Fizz
in this particular matchup u can start with long sword and poke him down when he goes for farm in the 1st levels. if u dont want Play him like most assassins - take exhaust, abuse him hard pre-6, keep your distance after 6 and poke him to half, then combo him. The hard part about Fizz and why he's a decent counter is his troll poll, as he can dodge your ult really easily, so you never want to try to ult him unless you know it's on cooldown or you're standing out of vision around a corner or in a bush. Be REALLY careful of his troll poll and then Zhonya's immediately afterwards. He makes you waste your ult and then you're a sitting duck.
Viktor
his q hurts you really bad.
Azir
he deals much damage and he pokes all the time. care at his lvl 6 as u cant do anything if he uses his combo and ulties you behind him.
Syndra
she has long range spells. go boots to avoid her q/e stun combo.
LeBlanc
she has gap-close and crazy damage. try to poke untill lvl 3 and then stay as back as u can and farm with q
Zed
This guy is really annoying in lane, but you can usually beat him if you play it right. He constantly pokes you in lane without cost and can kill you under tower with his ult. The most important thing is to TAKE EXHAUST. Pre-6 harass him every chance you get, but be careful of taking Shuriken's from both him and his shadow at the same time. You can't really stay in lane if you're half health or lower, so you'll want to back for catalyst as soon as possible and maybe even get some pots. Be careful about ulting him when his ult is up unless you do it from behind a wall or in a bush because he can dodge your ult completely with his. One more important thing to realize is when he ults you, he always appears behind you, so you should be able to ult him for free afterwards. If you have exhaust and ult and he's at least at 2/3rds health, you should win if he jumps on you. Just don't miss your abilities. Watch for him roaming as well and ping your teammates.
Yasuo
its a hard matchup because of his high mobility in the lane and because of his windwall which can block all your kit.
Heimerdinger
I love this match up. You can Q his turrets to take them out and make his day miserable. Buy early boots to dodge his abilities and turrets and focus on taking out every turret he places ASAP. He's really easy to gank with your ult, as he's immobile and squishy and you'll combo him quick. Just be really careful of his ult, as he can often kill you just because you're slow and can't get out of range.
Kassadin
Poor kassadin. Make his life miserable with auto attacks. He can't ult when he's rooted. He doesn't like you.
Lissandra
She's more or less immobile and short range, making her a pretty easy target to harass, poke, and combo. Just be really careful of her ult, as it can destroy you in a gank or turn a fight pretty easily.
Malphite
He's melee. You might have to buy some pots to sustain through his poke, but let the lane push and zone him from minions.
Rumble
You should harass him out of lane. He doesn't have the range to deal with you. you won't see him much in mid though.
Gragas
Melee champ, which usually means a pretty easy lane. You can get early boots to avoid his barrels and body slam. Be careful of getting too close so you can keep your distance from him. Most off all, you always have to be conscious of his ult, so don't get close to his turret and ward the rivers so he can't ult you to his jungler.
Kennen
He'll want to zone you when his auto attack is empowered. The moment he starts moving towards you, charge your Q while backing off and shoot him in the face. He'll stop trying it after a while. You should be able to outpoke him and combo him. Just be careful of his empowered auto and stay behind your minions so he can't stun you. Take exhaust and exhaust him when he ults, even late game.
Master Yi
Special mention of Yi because you have to be really careful of ulting him before he alpha strikes. Just don't ult no matter what until he Alpha's, at which point you exhaust him and ult and he's worthless. I will almost always take exhaust when there's a Yi on the other team. If you don't take exhaust, expect him to be a much harder matchup. In teamfights, stay in the back and wait for him to Alpha in and then destroy him.
Xerath
You'll out poke him and out burst him. Just don't get stunned. Buy boots early.
Anivia
You should be able to harass her pretty easily. Buy boots early to dodge her skills and get out of her ult asap. She's easy to poke down and then ult combo, but a bit annoying because that leaves you with her egg. Try to get a gank before you combo her so you can kill her egg together.
Cassiopeia
Don't trade with Cassio ever past level 1. Keep your distance and only hit her when you can. She's slow so she's a pretty easy target for poke and you can easily combo her if you get her to 2/3rd's health. Just keep your distance for the most part.
Jax
Special mention of Jax as you have to play really carefully around him as he can dodge your auto attacks, giving him a lot of outplay possibilities. However, you can actually be a really good counter to Jax. The secret is to ult him immediately before he can jump on you. Even if he dodges your autos, the ult will add blight and you can nearly take him out without the autos. If he does jump on you, exhaust and kite (don't bother attacking if he's dodging). You're a good counter because he's not a hard target to ult and he usually doesn't build tanky enough to withstand your full combo.
Nasus
You won't fight him in lane, but I love blowing up this guy, so I thought I'd throw him in. You can 1v1 a fed Nasus if your ult is up (what ADC... or really other champ can do that?). Just root him when he uses his slow on you. Don't hold your ult to stop him from getting to you, but try to put shots on him first if you can. If he gets to you, exhaust him before he Q's and then kite him. If he goes a heavy tank build this won't work and he can be a pain.
Orianna
A good Orianna can really pressure you. Hit her hard level 1. Keep your distance after 6 until you've poked her down. Be careful of her ult.
Tryndamere
You won't fight him in lane, but I thought I'd write a few notes about him. If you see him on the other team, you probably want to take exhaust, as it shuts down his ult. You can often blow him up without him using his ult because he's not ready for your burst. Chunk him down some to a hp level before most Trynds ult but still low, make sure you have 3 stacks on him and ult him to surprise him with your burst. You might have to use your ult sooner to stop him from jumping on you. Swifties might be a good idea too if he's fed to kite him. All in all, if you have your ult and exhaust up, you should be able to 1v1 Trynd if you play it right.
Ekko
Careful of his mobility. Exhaust is a pretty good option to counter him if he jumps on you. He's melee, so harass him with autos every time his timewinder is on cooldown. Be careful of his ult, but if you can kill him before your root wears off he can't use it (so probably don't combo him early unless he's about half health).
Swain
Used to be tough before the nerfs. I haven't played one since then so I can't comment. Buy early boots to avoid his root. Use your W to stop his ult heal. He usually gets Rod as well which makes him tough to burst and then he can sustain up again. Late game, he's much easier to deal with as he is immobile and you can 100-0 him easily so he can't sustain up again.
Veigar
Can be tough, can be easy. You'll out trade him as long as he misses his skills. If he doesn't, you're toast, which makes him kind of dangerous. Pretty easy to poke or gank. Just be careful of his crazy burst, especially late game.
Vel'Koz
Get early boots. Learn to dodge his abilities. Be ready to flash to outduel him if he uses his ult. He can be tough if good. You might want to take barrier or heal to counter his ult.
Ziggs
Buy early boots and maybe a few more pots than normal. He doesn't have a lot of kill pressure if you stay healthy. You should out poke him and he's an easy target for your ult combo. Barrier is a good spell to counter his ult if you have trouble with Ziggs. Overall, you should win on an equal skill level.
Fiddlesticks
The biggest secret to playing against fiddle is don't try to trade or get close after level 2 (harass him hard level 1) and don't bother Q'ing until you get your catalyst unless it's to proc blight or thunderlord's. You can't get close to a good fiddle or you'll get out traded hard, so get catalyst and poke him like crazy. He's slow so it's not hard to get him low and then ult combo him. Try to punish him for using his drain on a minion by moving in and hitting him hard or at least Q'ing him with a good charge. If you're missing a lot of Q's and not punishing him for using his drain, you can go oom and his sustain will keep him healthy, so focus on landing every Q. If you get him to half health, he's an easy target for a combo. He also doesn't have a very good combat ult in lane, so you're more potent after 6.
Katarina
As long as you play Kat right, you should win lane. Use your standard assassin technique and she's not too tough. Harass like crazy pre-6, back way off after 6 until you have catalyst and poke her to 2/3rds and are full health, move in freely after that and exhaust her and combo her if she jumps in and ults you. Be really careful of roaming and ping like crazy if she leaves lane. Try to track where she goes with wards. She's actually annoying later in the game if she plays it right because if you ult her, she can Zhonya's and then blink out the moment it's over. Try to charge a Q and wait until after she blinks to pop the blight from your ult if she does this. Be really careful of her dodging your ult in general with her blink. Make sure to exhaust her and burst her every time she ults or jumps in in teamfights.
Morgana
Special mention of her because she can black shield anyone to stop your ult. EXTREMELY annoying. Other than that, you can poke her down and if she ults her, blow her up before it procs.
Teemo
I hate teemo. The biggest thing to be aware of is he can duel you and win at almost any point because of his blind. You can't trade with him in lane. Your best bet is to farm up early while staying behind your minions, get catalyst, poke him down, ult him max range and combo him. Never get close, get ready to back off if he blinds you until it wears off, and rely on the blight from your ult with a follow up Q to chunk him down. You can beat him in lane without too much trouble just by poking him and calling for a gank or comboing him from max range. You might want to take heal or barrier unless someone else on the enemy team is going to try to dive you or assassinate you.
Fiora
You won't necessarily face her in lane, but Fiora's riposte is super annoying. Basically you'll demolish even a fed Fiora if you land your ult (especially with exhaust), but if she ripostes your ult, you're toast. She's a great target to take out of the fight, so try to hit her when riposte is on cooldown or when she's mid dash coming towards you. You can duel a fed Fiora if you're confident you can bait her riposte and have exhaust.
Vi
Special mention for this annoying champ. She makes your life miserable with her ult and frequent dashes. You can't root her during her ult either. Play pretty far back in lane and you'll probably want exhaust because she'll be diving you like crazy.
Wukong
Special mention because he can block your ult or get you to waste it with his clone. Take exhaust vs him because he'll continuously dive you. Try to ult him before he can ult and burst him down. If you can catch him before he gets to your team, you can make him worthless in a team fight.
Annie
Annie is a tough match up because you can never get close to her after level 6. If you're scared, buy a Doran's ring so you can shoot a Q off every time it comes off cooldown after getting Catalyst. Your goal before level 6 is to abuse her hard every time she uses her stun. Once you hit 6, push the lane with Q's and back for Catalyst ASAP. Try to get her low with poke. If you have catalyst and full health and she is down to just over half health from poke, you can move in and look for an opportunity to combo her with your ult. Unless she's gotten a kill or two, she can't one shot you with full health and catalyst and you can one shot her if she hasn't bought MR. Also, watch for her roaming and ping your teammates like crazy. Take barrier and use it when she ults you. Also take a full MR blue page, not scaling CDR.
Malzahar
Similar to Annie, you can never get close to this guy after 6. See Annie for how to counter him. Ganks work really well too. I wouldn't buy a QSS - I'd rather get catalyst and maybe early MR and gain a health advantage through poke. If he can't 100-0 you and you can due to catalyst and mr and your health advantage, you're golden. Take barrier and use it when he ults you. Also take a full MR blue page, not scaling CDR.
Talon
Hate this guy. You'll need to itemize against him most of the game - lots of armor. DEFINITELY take exhaust. You have to be so careful with him because he can all in you at LEVEL 2!!! Harass him hard level 1, but back off after that. If he ever does jump on you, exhaust him immediately. Don't hold it. Other than that, get catalyst ASAP, poke him from range, and then move in when he gets to 2/3rds health, you have ult, exhaust, and near full health. Then if he jumps in, exhaust him and combo him. Be aware that when he jumps to you, he always appears behind you, so you can turn around and ult immediately for a guaranteed hit. Be ESPECIALLY careful of him roaming, which most will do rather than stand there and get poked in lane. You have to put up wards on both sides of the river, watch where he goes, and then just ping like super crazy right on top of your teammates, even type "Talon coming bot!" Play the lane this way and you can beat him.
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